German Eurofighter aircraft crash after mid-air collision

Two Eurofighter jets belonging to the German Air Force have crashed in the Müritz area in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern following a mid-air collision.

The incident occurred when three Eurofighters from the Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 73 (TLG73) ‘Steinhoff’ were taking part in an air combat mission. TLG73 ‘Steinhoff’ is a fighter wing of the German Air Force.

In an official Twitter post, the airforce’s Team Luftwaffe stated that two of the three jets were involved in the collision and the pilots managed to eject from the jets using parachutes. However, only one of them survived the crash. The other pilot was declared dead by the airforce.

The third pilot witnessed the collision and confirmed that the two pilots deployed their parachutes to eject from the aircraft.

At this stage, the cause of the collision remains unclear. Team Luftwaffe noted that the Eurofighters, based at Laage military base, were not armed.

Germany Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen rushed to the site of the accident. Von der Leyen said: “I thank all the forces for helping us in this hour of need. And I thank the people for their prudence in accompanying this terrible event.”

Rescue teams attended to the pilot who safely ejected from the fighter jet and was found in the canopy of a tree.

The crash comes days after various stakeholders of the Eurofighter programme signed contracts to study the long-term evolution of the aircraft.

The multirole Eurofighter Typhoon is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo under a multinational collaboration among the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Other countries operating the fighter aircraft include Austria, Italy, the UK, Spain and Saudi Arabia.